2nd set of skis?

I ski mostly in the new england area, and bought my first set of skis last year, when I started to get heavily into skiing. So of course, I didn't know what I was doing, ending up purchasing Soloman Foils 168. How servicable are these skis? I seem to skid a lot on icy patches when I don't stay on the carving line. I will also probably go out West once a year, though they seemed to perform better over there.

So I was thinking of getting a 2nd set of skis and was looking for a recommendation. I'm only looking to spend around $200 so older models are fine.

I'm 6'1" 180lbs probably around a 6-7 in skill level. I do like to venture off-trail and love doing trees, so my thinking is to use the foils off-piste and get a groomer ski. Would an all-mountain ski be better or should i get a carver like RX8's? I'm looking at this as a start in building a quiver.

Also what would be a cheap groomer ski for my brother who is a beginner?

Well I don't have a ton of experience so take my advice with a grain of salt but the first thing I would recommend is looking into a longer ski. I am 5'10" and ski on 179 ski. The shorter ski was easier to handle when you were beginning but now that you re getting more advanced the longer ski will give you more control.

As far as a second ski with the foils being 96 at the waist my recommendation would be to use them as off-piste and get a ski thats some where in the 70s at the waist possibly low 80s if u want more of an all mountain ski. AS far as bargains go there are some really good deals on the gear trade portion of this site and a lot of places are having online sales right now.

I like the Nordica Afterburner for my do-it-all ski for east/west. It doesn't excel in powder and it doesn't carve as well my GS race carvers (don't have them any more) or my slalom race carvers, but they're great in the trees, passable in the moguls, carve at all but GS race speeds and they plow through crud like nobody's business. They're billed as an advanced intermediate ski, but I dispute this. They hold up just fine for me and I've been skiing since 1963. I'm 6', 185 and ski them in 178. They're easier to ski than the Fischer RC4 WC RC's that I had - they don't demand as much precision, but reward it almost as well. I bought them after demo-ing them at Squaw but skied them almost exclusively last winter at Gore and Whiteface.

So it's toward the end of the season, and I decided to sell the Foils since they are too short for me now.

For a little background on what I like to ski, I don't like to go too fast, and like doing turns of all sizes. I look for trees whenever I can, and am willing to do any steep that isn't covered in ice.

I plan on getting a pair of Watea 94's for my everyday ski and my yearly trip out west. Is the 178 long enough?

I also found a pair of Dynastar Contact 10's at 172cm (2008 model) used for less than $200. Figure that this would be a cheap carver for the icy days. Is this a steal? I read that these are pretty heavy, but these are the cheapest decent carvers I've found online so far.

That isn't a bad 2 ski quiver, but I would go a tad longer on the Dynastars/carvers. I'm 5' 9", 170 and I prefer 179 or longer for frontside/on piste skiing. Whatever you get, tune them/sharpen them after at least every two to four days of East Coast hardpack skiing and they should hold you just fine. I do think that on the East Coast the carver should be your everyday ski and the 94 waist would only be optimal one or two days a year this side of the Mississippi.

Thanks for the replies. So I went to Okemo to demo some skis this weekend (they were having a free demo event), managed to try the Contact 4x4's before I knocked myself out of commission trying to avoid a beginner who had fallen on the slopes. These things go fast! I did find them hard to do shorter turns though. Unfortunately the Contact 10's I wanted are sold out now so that isn't an option anymore. I'm now tempted to buy the Contact LTD's for about $320 used or the Contact 10's 2009 from Dawgcatching for $400ish if he still has any left, and hold off on the Watea's since I probably won't need them until next year at this point. Thoughts?

Considering I can spend a little more now, that opens me up to more options.

Lots of good skis on the market but based on what you said I would look at an all-mountain ski. K2, Volkl, Rossi, etc., all make great all-mountain skis. My preference is with Volkl so I would recomend the AC 30 based on how you ski.

* If you're going to own 2 pairs of skis, make sure they are really different from each other. The Watea 94 & a Dynastar carver are really different from each other, so I like that idea.

The other poster's suggestion of a Volkl AC30 (a narrow waisted mid-fat) & a Dynastar carver didn't sound very good to me as they are very similar to each other.

* I'm 5'9.5" and 180# - about your size - and I like my carvers around 170cm long (+/- 2cm). I'm 46 years old and don't go super fast any more, but I do enjoy shaping a variety of turns with the 170cm carvers. However, the 170cm carvers are still stable enough to let me enjoy going relatively fast when I feel like it. But... if you have a serious need for speed and like just long radius turns, then look at a 180cm long carver as another poster suggested.

* I don't know much about the Watea 94, but it seems like for a wide ski you want something that is a good compromise between a wide Eastern ski and a wide Western ski. With that in mind, the Watea 94 just might be a good choice for you. I'm in the Pacific Northwest & my new snow off-piste ski is 105mm wide under boot, and I do like the width. (off-piste == off the groomed trails)

Since I ski the Pacific Northwest (wet & heavy snow), I like a little bit stiffer wide ski than I probably would like if I skied Utah & Colorado (dry snow). So keep in mind where you plan to travel to for the stiffness of your wide ski. For length at your size look at 175cm to 180cm or so.

Dave, I think you hit it on the head. The only thing I wasn't sure was whether to go for the 178's or 186's since I've never skied anything that long before, and it might take some adjusting when I'm in the trees.

Anyway, I ended up buying some Watea 94's in 178 with RFD12 bindings from Dawgcatching, so my powder ski is set.

I guess I will take my time until a great deal comes up for a used or very cheap carver. So tempted to drop even more money on some Contact 10's though...

178 sounds like the right length for the Watea 94... good move. (Leave the 186 for the 6'2" & 210# guys... that's who it was made for.)

Regarding the other ski, the carver... my suggestion is to get the ski you know you're going to like. If you have demoed a ski before and love it, then that's the ski you should buy. Definitely demo if you can.

Last year I bought a 4 year old ski that had never been skied before with bindings for $250. Magazine reviews were favorable to the ski, nobody said anything bad about it at epicski.com, and it was supposed to be an advanced/expert level ski. Well, there was a reason that ski was still available after 4 years and cost only $250... needless to say I wasn't too satisfied with it.

I keep learning the hard way that one is better off spending extra $$$ to buy a really good tool the first time... than buy a whole bunch of lousy ones trying to save money.

You're pretty safe getting a ski from Dawgcatching. I don't know the guy, but it sounds like he demos everything possible so he can make a good recommendation and not sell a bad ski. I did demo the Contact 10 this last December and definitely liked it, but there are other nice carvers out there, too.

Yea, I was also looking to drop down to 170-175lbs by the summer as well so it's probably the better choice. Unfortunately I think I may have torn my left calf muscle, meaning I'll miss my last ski trip of the season. Was really hoping to be able to try them out without having to wait until December. Guess I'll be holding off on buying my carver as well.